Travellers: Don’t Be ‘Tricked’ into Paying More Says Which? Survey

A Which? Magazine survey has revealed that travellers are being tricked into paying 'rip off charges'.

According to the report, featured in the Daily Mail on 23 February 2012, the top three 'tricks' to watch out for are:

Premium rate telephone lines, starting 0871 or 090. 30% of companies were using these numbers. Make sure you don't call Ryanair as it will cost you a whopping £1 per minute!

Surcharges and booking fees being added to credit card payment (over 43% reported this happening to them). The report said airline passengers are paying out nearly £8million in credit and debit card surcharges every month, or £265,000 a day.

Pre-selected boxes which a consumer needs to untick in order to avoid paying for things they don't want, including travel insurance and airport lounge access, as a fifth of firms used automatic opt-ins. (Legislation is going through the EU to ban this practice.)

Chris Gray, acting assistant editor of Which? Travel, said: "Consumers should always have a clear choice when it comes to adding an extra item to their purchase. Automatic opt-ins make such choices less than clear and we want to see travel companies stop using them."